I have a filter question

[eng45ine]

I am pretty darned new to digital photography so please forgive my basic question. I shoot with a D2H and 300mm f/2.8 or 70-200mm f/2.8 VR. When I shoot daytime sports, invariably, one of the teams wears a white (or very light colored) jersey. When the sun is shining brightly, the white jersey highlights are blown. I shoot mostly in aperture priority with the lens on f/2.8. I am new to adjusting the EV, but I have experimented with that which only makes the image even darker with blown highlights. So what should I do differently with my settings to achieve better results with my captures? Is there a filter that I should be using that would offer better results? I'm at a loss here...at this point, I'm praying for clouds!!! Your tips, comments, experiences are truly appreciated. Thanks one and all.....

 

[Iliah]

Dear Frank,

Center-weighted metering from the grass on the field, or spot-metering from the lightest jersey +1.7eV should do the trick. Then take some test shots, watch the histogram and adjust eV till the histogram touches the right "wall". I would also suggest keeping camera om low contrast

 

[eng45ine]

Thanks Iliah...I'll give that a try while shooting some football practices. I'm getting rather frustrated at this point.

 

[greyflash]

White clothing is very difficult to shoot in bright sunlight as any wedding photographer can tell you. Iliah gave you some excellent advise. Just remember you can recover shadow area but you can't recover white that has blown out. I suggest you use highlight shadow in PS to recover the darker areas.

 

[eng45ine]

Good point, Gordon. Thankfully, I don't shoot weddings...enough stress in my life. I will have to break out the PS Elements book to do what you recommend. Thanks for helping.

 

[Baywing]

I have the contrast setting in my D100 set as low as it can go and still have the same problem. I've been finding a -0.3 exp comp seems to be enough to handle it. I still have just a tad of blow out, but it isn't any more than I was getting shooting slide film. As for Elements, don't look too hard, I think the feature refered to is only in CS, maybe only in CS2, I don't think PS7 even has it. (If it does, I haven't found it yet!)

 

[eng45ine]

Thanks Bay...I would have spent an hour trying to find it in Elements. I will try a few things then ask Papa85 if we can post-process a few images with his PS7 to see if we can improve anything. In the meantime, where are some clouds?????

 

[mike mac]

Frank
Here is how I have found a good way to preserve highlights and in post bring them back again.
First I set my contrast to low in the camera, I shoot all my shots this way.
I then us - Ev comp and make sure I am not blowing the highlights, it is OK if part of the white uniforms are blown the pictures will seem a tad dark,
In Capture try using the DE function with best quality to bring back the details it seems to work real well for me. Of course try it on a few shots as a test and then shoot with what you are comfortable.
Here is the shot as it is straight from camera
Any questiosn feel free to contact me

Subscribe to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

Here it is after applying DDE

Subscribe to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

 

[eng45ine]

Thanks Mike...that is definately a great end result. I will get my hands on a disk with Nikon Capture and give it a try. I really like what the members have offered and yours is another great way to handle it. I appreciate your help very much.

 

[heiko]

Dear Frank,

Center-weighted metering from the grass on the field, or spot-metering from the lightest jersey +1.7eV should do the trick. Then take some test shots, watch the histogram and adjust eV till the histogram touches the right "wall". I would also suggest keeping camera om low contrast

Could a polarizer help here, if adjusted properly? Or is it only good for nature / stills? (Hope it's not too dumb a question :redface: .)

 

[heiko]

Frank
Here is how I have found a good way to preserve highlights and in post bring them back again.
First I set my contrast to low in the camera, I shoot all my shots this way.
I then us - Ev comp and make sure I am not blowing the highlights, it is OK if part of the white uniforms are blown the pictures will seem a tad dark,
In Capture try using the DE function with best quality to bring back the details it seems to work real well for me. Of course try it on a few shots as a test and then shoot with what you are comfortable.
Here is the shot as it is straight from camera
Any questiosn feel free to contact me

Mike
I often do the same as you suggest, but I also find that NC's DE can be quite aggressive (fortunately one can reduce it), and it's quite slow. Do you have some "golden" settings that you use, or is it on a case by case basis?

 

[bstaggs]

Frank
Here is how I have found a good way to preserve highlights and in post bring them back again.
First I set my contrast to low in the camera, I shoot all my shots this way.
I then us - Ev comp and make sure I am not blowing the highlights, it is OK if part of the white uniforms are blown the pictures will seem a tad dark,
In Capture try using the DE function with best quality to bring back the details it seems to work real well for me. Of course try it on a few shots as a test and then shoot with what you are comfortable.
Here is the shot as it is straight from camera
Any questiosn feel free to contact me

Mike,

Not sure I understand what the Capture DE function is. Is it the same as the D-Lighting function?

Thanks,

 

[mike mac]

Frank
Here is how I have found a good way to preserve highlights and in post bring them back again.
First I set my contrast to low in the camera, I shoot all my shots this way.
I then us - Ev comp and make sure I am not blowing the highlights, it is OK if part of the white uniforms are blown the pictures will seem a tad dark,
In Capture try using the DE function with best quality to bring back the details it seems to work real well for me. Of course try it on a few shots as a test and then shoot with what you are comfortable.
Here is the shot as it is straight from camera
Any questiosn feel free to contact me

Mike,

Not sure I understand what the Capture DE function is. Is it the same as the D-Lighting function?

Thanks,

Yes that is my bust it used to be called DDE in previous versions of capture

 

[mike mac]

Mike
I often do the same as you suggest, but I also find that NC's DE can be quite aggressive (fortunately one can reduce it), and it's quite slow. Do you have some "golden" settings that you use, or is it on a case by case basis?

I adjust the settign on a case by case basis but start with the defaults and adjust to taste

 

[bstaggs]

OK, here’s where this all seems somewhat confusing for a rookie like myself. It would seem that I have several ways to control the exposure/lighting.

Advanced Raw Exp Comp
LCH
Curves (RGB)

I try to adjust the image so that the historygram is pretty much centered and it looks right. What tool/function should I be using?

Thanks,

 

[eng45ine]

White clothing is very difficult to shoot in bright sunlight as any wedding photographer can tell you. Iliah gave you some excellent advise. Just remember you can recover shadow area but you can't recover white that has blown out. I suggest you use highlight shadow in PS to recover the darker areas.

Gordon,

Elements 3 does have "highlight shadow" and it works fairly well. I find that I have to be patient and fiddle with the %'s but it is a viable option to enhance the light highlights that aren't totally blown. Thanks to you and the other members for offering some help with my dilema.

 

[pcjr]

Frank
Here is how I have found a good way to preserve highlights and in post bring them back again...
In Capture try using the DE function with best quality to bring back the details it seems to work real well for me. Of course try it on a few shots as a test and then shoot with what you are comfortable.

I am new to Capture and just fired it up to check out the D-Lighting function. Thanks for the tip, it will help with white soccer jerseys!

 

[Rich Gibson]

Dear Frank,

Center-weighted metering from the grass on the field, or spot-metering from the lightest jersey +1.7eV should do the trick. Then take some test shots, watch the histogram and adjust eV till the histogram touches the right "wall". I would also suggest keeping camera om low contrast

Dear Illiah,

This is going to sound stupid but if you meter on an already light jersey, wont setting the EV to +1.7eV blow everything to kingdon come? OR do you mean setting the eV first then metering on the jersey?

Rich

 

[Flew]

Rich,

I'm not Iliah, but I can answer. If you spot meter the white highlight, the cam will try to adjust that point to middle gray, resulting in a severely under-exposed image. I have been taught that I should use +1.3 in the case of white birds, and I know from experience that it works. That brings the white (jersey or feathers) up to the right side of the histogram where it truly is in the real world. Then as Iliah said, adjust the EV so that the histogram approaches the right 'wall'.

Hope this makes sense.

 

[Iliah]

Dear Rich,

Frank is right IMHO. I'm doing some demo shots for Dan's new PS book edition. The set concerning exposure I will gladly run through Café habitués eyes, if you do not mind.